Why in news? India hosting  meeting of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF)

Highlights:

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is organising a Country-Led Initiative (CLI) event as part of UNFF at the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, Uttarakhand
• The meeting will focus on thematic areas like forest fires and forest certification with sustainable forest management
• Expected out come with implementable frameworks and recommendations for management of forest fire and forest certification will be considered for discussions at the 19th session of UNFF scheduled at UN Headquarters, New York in May 2024.

UN Strategic Plan for Forests

• The UN General Assembly adopted the first-ever UN Strategic Plan for Forests for the period of 2017-2030.
• It serves as a global framework for actions at all levels to achieve the sustainable management of all types of forests, including trees outside forests, and to combat deforestation and forest degradation.

About  United Nations Forum on Forests

• Type: High-level intergovernmental policy forum.
• Headquarters: New York, USA
• Members: All united member states and permanent observers, the UNFCC secretariat, the collaborative partnership on forest and regional organization
• India was one of the founding member of UNFF.

History

• In 1992, UN Conference on Environment adopts Forest Principles together with Agenda 21 for conservation
• Following the Earth Summit, Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) and Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) was established to implement the Forest Principles
• In 2000, United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) established the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) for forest management

Objective

• To promote the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests
• Strengthen long-term political commitment of the Rio Declaration, the Forest Principles, Agenda 21 and the outcome of the IPF/IFF Processes